Gary Kubiak comes to Jacoby Jones’ defense

Share this:

Texans head coach Gary Kubiak sounded more focused on the future Monday than he was on how his team’s season ended in Baltimore a day earlier, but he couldn’t get past his disappointment either given how four turnovers contributed hugely to the 20-13 defeat.

“It’s disappointing from the standpoint that we helped a team beat us,” Kubiak said. “Playing in huge games like that the one thing you don’t want to do is help some body and, when all is said and done, that’s what we did.

“But I’m not worried about one game. I’m worried about what we do in the long haul.”

Fan ire has been most vociferously directed at receiver-return man Jacoby Jones, whose botched punt early in the game gave Baltimore the ball at the Texans’ two, from where they quickly scored their first touchdown. Kubiak came to Jones’ defense.

“He made a mistake,” Kubiak said. “But he’s also made big plays for us through the course of the year. You’re not going to give up on a guy because he makes a mistake in a game. Yeah, it was a big mistake. There’s no getting around that. A lot of guys make mistakes in games and come back and make big plays for you. I try to look at the big picture on things. I know how far Jacoby has come as a person and a player.

“As a coach, you’ve got to believe in your people. Your players got to believe in each other. You’ve got to overcome our mistakes and that’s the great thing. We had our chances to overcome them. I know how much he’d like to have that play back, and we’ll give the chance to (put it behind him) when we go get going again.”

Kubiak emphasized to the Texans as he met with them individually during Monday’s checkout process how close they came to playing for the AFC Championship and a Super Bowl berth.

“The guys are very down about what happened yesterday, but they’re very upbeat about their football team,” he said. “I’ve never been around a group of guys that talk more positive about each other, how good a locker room we have, what kind of football team we have, how they can’t wait to go back and play with that group of guys.

“We’ve obviously taken the biggest step we’ve taken as a franchise this season, but I also think it’s important that the players (ask themselves), do we come out of this thing hungrier? We’ve had a taste of the playoffs, what it’s like. Now, this will be our biggest off-season. We have to step it up. If we want to win a championship, there’s another big step for us to take.”

Kubiak said he delivered the message most directly to receiver Andre Johnson and linebacker DeMeco Ryans, veteran bulwarks for the offense and defense respectively.

“They’re the kind of guys that will have to lead the way when start again in a couple months,” Kubiak said. “I wanted them to know how much I think of them and that they’re the guys who need to step to the forefront and make sure this football team is committed to taking another step.”